


Teacup Sky

by evanlinge



Series: Saviour 'verse [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-18 05:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/876393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evanlinge/pseuds/evanlinge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s as if you have a set of false memories caked over your own, copper-toned and set on endless fast-forward until you wake,” Kushina’s ghost says, taking half a step forward on the edge of the Hokage monument.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teacup Sky

 

 

 _In a moment she’ll slip._ Kakashi thinks dizzily. Which is ludicrous in retrospect – Kushina-sama is a kunoichi of the highest calibre, and has balance down to an art form. She spins to glance at him then, the empty drop beyond the monument framing her form like a striking taunt. He doesn’t even want to begin to imagine what Minato-sensei would do to him if she fell.

 

Kushina shifts and the sun turns her hair a fiery copper, emphasises the curve of her unborn child. Strong currents of air twist around her and Kakashi takes an involuntary step forwards as her heels arch on the edge of the precipice.

 

“Did you tire of your team already Kakashi?” Her voice is light and airy.

 

“Not quite, Kushina-sama. Minato-sensei implied that there were better uses of my time than distracting his guards,” he admits, recalling his sensei’s agitated disposition and uncharacteristically mocking tone.

 

 _“If you’re so determined to avoid gate-guard duty Kakashi, then perhaps keeping my_ _pregnant_ _fiancée_ _company will prove a better use of your time and skills.”_

 

“He’s been in a mood all week,” Kushina snorts, “something about the balance of his seals and fluctuations in the chakra.”

 

“He has been a bit on edge,” Kakashi offers delicately, silently wincing at his own wording. “It could be his impending fatherhood–?”

 

“A true romantic!” She laughs. “I don’t think so. More likely that Jiraiya’s absence left him off balance.” She smiles, leaning forward to view the sharp, downward drop, and missing the way Kakashi starts in sudden alarm. He tenses all over when she rocks forward, extending her leg in a high arc, reminiscent of a circus entertainer dancing on a too-thin rope.

 

“Kushina-sama! Please–” He cuts himself off, flushing as she cuts him an sharp grin. She steps backwards then, acquiescently, fondly, and motions him closer.

 

“Sit with me Kakashi. I’m more than willing to adopt Minato’s darling protégés during his fits of temper.” She makes no mention of the fact that Minato has only one protégé left.

 

“There was one mission, before he became Hokage, that Sensei refuses to elaborate on, but even the mention of it sends Jiraiya-sama into fits of laughter,” Kakashi prompts carefully, sinking down beside her. Her chakra is radiant with the arresting hints of some little new life intertwined within. His visible eye crinkles as he smiles up at her through the mask.

 

The laugh he receives in return is compelling, like tiny bells falling from a great height. “That mission was the one near Tea Country with the rather unusual brothel,” Kushina’s voice is full of mirth as she proceeds to regale him with an entirely filthy story involving an ornamental sword, a lovely furisode kimono, and a great deal of sake, during Minato-sensei’s stint at a pleasure house.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun casts dark shadows across Konohagakure’s buildings as it vanishes, and the village’s young Hokage turns away from the rising moon. He does not need to imagine the stark ink of his seals hissing with bjiuu’s energy, or the nine tails which fan out behind his pregnant fiancée’s shadow.

 

* * *

 

 

Two days later a child is born. Two days later, the Kyuubi no Kitsune is torn from Kushina’s chakra lines and rampages, enslaved under a new master. Kakashi never forgets the darkness in Kushina’s furious gaze.

 

* * *

 

 

“I won’t fall Sensei!” Uzumaki Naruto laughs, taking half a step forward on the edge of the Hokage monument. The sun turns his hair a windswept gold.


End file.
